The present invention relates to a sheet conveying device including a sheet storage capable of rolling up a document driven out of, e.g., an image reading unit and storing it in the form of a roll.
A sheet conveying device capable of conveying an elongate sheet document whose size is, e.g., A4 to A0 in the widthwise direction and double the same in the direction of conveyance is conventional. It is a common practice with such a sheet conveying device to reverse the sheet having been read and then discharge it to a tray mounted on the front part of the device. This configuration allows the operator of the device to pick up the sheet at the operating position. However, it is difficult to reverse a relatively thick, hard sheet having been read. This kind of sheet is usually discharged to an extra tray mounted on the back of the device without being reversed.
There has been proposed a sheet conveying device of the type including a roll-up sheet storage capable of rolling up an elongate sheet discharged and storing it in the form of a roll. This type of sheet conveying device may be constructed to allow the operator of the device to pick up the sheet from the roll-up sheet storage at the front of the device while, e.g., correcting a skew at the same side of the device.
A sheet conveying device with a roll-up sheet storage is taught in, e.g., Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 10-305956. The device taught in this document includes first stocking means, second stocking means, and guiding means. The first stocking means is partly openable for storing a sheet by rolling it up while the second stocking means stores a sheet in a straight position. The guiding means is positioned in the vicinity of outlet rollers for selectively steering a sheet toward either one of the first and second stocking means in accordance with the length of the sheet. The operator of the device opens part of the first stocking means in order to pick up the rolled sheet. However, the guiding means adjoining the outlet rollers, i.e., an outlet brings about the following problem. When the operator picks up the rolled sheet stored in the first stocking means, the trailing edge of the sheet is apt to contact the casing of the device, which forms a guide path, and be damaged thereby.
Technologies relating to the present invention are also disclosed in, e.g., Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication Nos. 6-234452, 6-329315, 8-188265, 8-320599, 10-26847 and 11-127301.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a sheet conveying device with a sheet storage easy to operate and capable of storing a sheet in the form of a roll and allowing the roll to be safely picked up.
In accordance with the present invention, a sheet storage to be mounted to a sheet conveying device for conveying and discharging a sheet includes a roll-up storage configured to receive the sheet discharged from the sheet conveying device, roll up the sheet from the leading edge of the sheet, and store the sheet in the form of a roll. A connecting member displaceably connects the roll-up storage to the sheet conveying device. The roll-up storage is connected to the sheet conveying device such that when the roll-up storage is displaced, the trailing edge of the sheet rolled up in the roll-up storage is spaced from the sheet conveying device.